Premiership round up - Week 24

Birmingham v Spurs - 1:1 - Birmingham are a well organized team and Spurs allowed them more possession and room than Chelsea had three days beforehand. The action was fairly evenly shared in the first half but the second produced more chances for Spurs until Crouch delivered a strange-looking headed assist for Defoe to wallop into the corner of the net (69). Thereafter Birmingham threatened to level the match several times, but had to wait until injury time (90+1) for Ridgewell to score from point-blank range for honours even. St Hal put the Birmingham goal down to 'pretty horrendous defending from a team that had defended well all day.' McLeish (given the disparity in club wealth and squad quality) - 'a marvellous result on a not very fantastic performance by us.'

Fulham v Aston Villa - 0:2 - Schwarzer made couple of good saves to keep Villa out in the first half and Fulham had opportunities to score of their own. Finally Agbonlahor put Villa ahead with a well-placed header (40). Agbonlahor got his second goal four minutes later with a quality precision pass curled round the keeper. Fulham's low-strength team pushed hard to get back on terms, missed a couple of chances and had a goal disallowed for offside, but Villa were largely too good for them on the day. Fulham are at a low ebb at the moment and need a win soon to restore their confidence.

Liverpool v Bolton - 2:0 - Bolton made a good start but could not take advantage from it, despite forcing a couple of near desperation saves by Liverpool. However, Liverpool responded and Aquilani did well to lay off a header for Kuyt to stab home (37). Bolton's Chung-Yong was carded for diving (he won't be in contention for any Oscars, but on the replay his foot did appear to have been trodden on). Liverpool could have scored more in the second half. Gerrard had a good game and thumped a couple of decent-looking shots, one of which N'Gog should have put away from a rebound, but he missed. Liverpool had more long-range opportunities and their second goal came from what the trade calls a 'cruel' deflection (o/g, Davies, 70). The final ten minutes were all Liverpool, Lucas might have headed one in from a Gerrard cross and Maxi nearly got one at full stretch but the game ended at 2:0.

Wigan v Everton - 0:1 - Everton, in full black away strip, had two early near misses on goal and Saha might have won a penalty, whilst Wigan's Scotland also had a sniff or two on goal. Rodallega pushed the ball too far for his own good and over-ran it, and at the other end Fellaini had a goal denied. So, end to end stuff, with Everton just edging it until the 84th minute when Cahill got away from Figueroa, leapt a full head-height over all other Wigan defenders, and scored a great header. From the jump he achieved Your Ear thinks Cahill's boots might have provided him with spring-loaded assistance. N'Zogbia nearly equalized but it was Everton’s result. Martinez - 'The only thing we were missing was a goal…' Not as silly a comment as might first seem.

Hull v Wolves - 2:2 - This was a big game for both low-lying clubs. Hull got their noses in front first after 11 minutes with a powerful strike from the edge of the box by Vennegoor of Hesselink. Hull gifted Wolves their first with an unlikely slice in an attempt to clear the ball (o/g Gardner, 48). Wolves returned the favour soon after (52), conceding a foolish penalty which Hunt converted against his old club. The game flowed well from end to end until Jarvis equalized with help from a slight in-off (67). At the end Wolves looked the more likely side, but could not win the laurels. Brown - 'Everyone said it was going to be drab nil-nil affair, but how wrong they can be…' McCarthy 'Double-decker buses, two (goals) come along… I don't care who scores for us, I don't care whether we play well, I don't care what people think of us, I just want to score points and stay in the league.' Fair enough, but he might have given some credit to Hull for scoring on Wolves' behalf.

West Ham v Blackburn - 0:0 - West Ham looked good from the off, pressurizing well and missing a couple of chances. Having said that the closest effort and highlight of the first half was Pederson's free kick, which hit the bar. Blackburn had several near misses in the second half but squandered some good opportunities and Green performed well in goal. Diamanti's free kick was the equal of Pederson's but was well saved by Robinson. Zola - 'It hasn't been our best game.' Allardyce - 'Unfortunately for us a mixture of poor finishing and a couple of good saves… and the fact that we think there's a handball on the line which stopped a certain goal, an absolute certain goal, so that should have been a penalty… my assistant asked him (the linesman) but they unfortunately didn't see it, and that's a big problem for us, because, when you do see it, it's stopped an absolute certain, blatant goal, and that would have been 1:0 for us and probably would have been the winner…' Let it all out, Sam, no hard feelings.

Burnley v Chelsea - 1:2 - a stiff test for Burnley's first home game under Brian Laws, and one at which, not surprisingly, they failed. After chances at both ends Cech threw the ball out hard to Joe Cole who did not touch it until it was three quarters up the pitch. Cole nudged it forward twice, crossed to Malouda who whipped it first time across the goal-mouth to Anelka, who had the simplest tap in for Chelsea's first (27) - six in six for Anelka. Bad boy Terry, under heavy barracking from the home crowd for misdemeanours reported off the pitch, was booked for obstruction before Fletcher's determination to go forward scored a fine equalizer for Burnley, beating two defenders and Cech in the process. Joe Cole might have scored from a Burnley goal-mouth melee from Anelka's cross but was given offside, a marginal decision. Chelsea pressed hard and might have scored several times but Burnley defended well and rode their luck. Finally, Terry scored a powerful header from a corner to break the deadlock (82).

Arsenal v Man Utd - 1:3 - ManU started the brighter of the two and had several near misses. Eventually great skill by Nani beat three defenders, allowing him to chip the goalkeeper. The chip may have been intended as a cross, but it forced an own goal from Almunia (33), who palmed the ball over his head, but unfortunately not over the bar. Rooney scored the second (his 100th goal in the Premiership), passing the ball forward to Nani and running over half the length of the pitch to collect the return pass and score by shooting across the goal mouth (37). In the second half United maintained the pressure and Park made it three with a good aggressive solo run and shot (52). Late in the game Vermaelen got one back with a deflected volley from the edge of the box (80). Gallas might have had another but lost his bearings, facing away from the net. Rooney nearly got another but his shot squeaked wide of the left hand post. A huge win in the title race for a dominant Man United, and although there were many fine players on the pitch Nani and Rooney showed great quality. Wenger - 'It's unusual for us to be as poor as we have been today. Everywhere, in every area, we have been really poor.' Sometimes you can only play as well as you are allowed to play, Arsene.

Man City v Portsmouth - 2:0 - Portsmouth are selling players left, right and centre. Meanwhile, Robinho has flown to Brazil, on loan to Santos, but he was not missed. Having said that the nearest early miss went to Portsmouth, who hit the bar. City appeared to be jumpy but Ireland passed forward into central space made by awful Portsmouth defending and Adebayor finished well for City to take the lead (40). Tevez was busy, as usual, and made several chances, finally wining a corner. Petrov smacked the ball across the goal with pace allowing Kompany to head the ball home with the sort of power that would render ordinary mortals insensible, a great goal (45+1). Portsmouth had their chances, Webber had one of them, but fell over his own feet. City also had further opportunities and Tevez hit the post. Despite the defeat Grant should have been pleased with the spirit and effort shown by his players. Mancini - 'Satisfied for the victory, yes, but the play - so-so. But probably after the Wednesday match against United we were so tired.' Ahhh, shame. Grant (always positive) - 'We need points, but, er, you know, I believe that if you do the things right you have the points. We have many games until the end, not too many, but also many games that we can turn things around, but we need to do the right things. I think today we did the right things but the result was not good… Nobody likes the situation but there is two ways, or to give up or to fight, I always choose the second way.' I think we'd all agree with him, if we could only work out what Avram is trying to say.

Sunderland v Stoke - 0:0 - Stoke are unbeaten in five matches after this tedious draw against Sunderland. Whitehead missed a good chance to put Stoke in front in the third minute after a clever back-heel by Tuncay, but his shot was saved. Whitehead and Cattermole were both shown yellow cards as the tension began to rise. Jones cleared a goal-mouth scramble which Sidibe missed narrowly early in the second half, but Campbell squandered Sunderland's best chance when he missed a cross by Zenden in the 77th minute. Bruce - ‘There was a resilience about us. It was never a classic, in fact it was a horror story, but it was a point on the board and a little springboard that we need.’ Pulis - ‘We are pleased. That (team) is as good as Steve has had for a long time. We knew it was going to be difficult tonight, we've got great respect for everybody in this league.’

Hull v Chelsea - 1:1 - Hull held a lacklustre Chelsea to a surprise draw with their hard-fought, never-say-die approach. Hull took the lead when unmarked Mouyokolo headed in Hunt's corner from six yards (30). Drogba, on his return from Africa Cup duty, equalized from a free-kick (42), but Hull continued to trouble Chelsea with a high-octane performance and held on for a draw. Brown - ‘We went 1:0 up and I was disappointed with the goal we conceded. Then you've got the second half and you've got to defend valiantly, which we did. But we played some great football too, we put them under pressure - no doubt about it. We fully deserved a point and maybe even all three.’ Meanwhile Ancelotti was happy to send an unfocussed Terry on holiday.

Fulham v Portsmouth - 1:0 - Jonathan Greening's debut goal for Fulham heaped more pressure on cash-strapped, bottom-of-the-heap Portsmouth. Portsmouth dominated the opening half-hour, but missed a few first-half chances whilst Fulham's Okaka headed an easy chance wide. But Fulham took the lead and won the game in the 74th minute when Greening slotted in a cross from the right by Damien Duff. Once again Portsmouth looked and played like a side that should not be propping up the league, but again their industry and endeavour failed to deliver a result. Grant - ‘We played very good football, created a lot of chances and were by far the better team. They did not even deserve a draw. There was also a mistake by the referee in the goal, because Zamora was offside… As long as we have a chance, we will fight. With the situation of the club, I am trying to do my best for the team. I love this club and when all of the city is supporting the team, I feel committed. I am trying to do my best in these circumstances.’ He’s a good man, Avram Grant.